When Hector Almendarez came to America decades ago, it was not during the best circumstances. He had been an educator in his home country, teaching the bright young adult minds who were supposed to lead the next generation for the nation he was born in. Strife, conflict and political turmoil changed things.
“I had to choose between following Christ and following politics,” he said. In Honduras, at the time, corruption and fear were very real concerns. “I chose to follow Christ, to be a Godly man, and to work to save people and my family.”
It is not often I attend a meeting headlined by Union Representatives that I find myself repeatedly choked up by a Union Leader in the way that Hector Almendarez inspired in Dodge City, Kansas on May 25, but as he spoke eloquently in his native Spanish — translated by his young companions, everyone in the room felt moved by the story.
“I come here tonight to help my people. To do what I can again because I feel we are all called upon at times to do important things, and this is one of those times.”
As Hector spoke of hate, oppression and concerns, he talked movingly about the promise of the growing community in Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal — communities that have grown to be majority minority, but where the minority population has not always participated in the process.
For Hector though, his journey from being an academic in his home country, to a member of a meat packing Union in America, shows the length a man would go to protect his family. Over the years, Hector’s involvement within his community reflected both his newfound role as a meat packer, working in a physically demanding job to provide for his family, and his roots as an academic.
Now he is working on English as a Second Language, teaching himself better English and reaching young minds again. He has devoted his time to improving his community in whatever way he can, finding roles that need him. Whether he is fighting for worker safety issues or better wages, Hector believes in protecting the future for his new home. As a part in Unionizing the meat packing plants in Southwest Kansas and providing workers a future, he hopes to do even more.
In a room filled with the Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Kerry Gooch, House Representative Jim Ward of Wichita, Congressional District Chair Johnny Dunlap, myself and community representatives, Hector had one request: “I’m asking you, today, I have brought with me to this meeting young members of my community. At the next meeting, I promise to bring twice as many. I ask of you, bring more of you as well. Let’s work together. I am offering you my hand. Take it. Let us do this together. I cannot bring lots of money, but I can bring to the table more than 1,000 US Citizens who will be eager to vote for the first time, to help save our nation and our state.”
Hector’s involvement in his community reaches beyond his work for the UFCW #2, as he along with other members of the community have worked to help more young immigrants and first-generation Americans. He singled out Greta Clark, an ESL teacher, for her work in helping provide after-school programs to teach older residents to read, write, and speak English.
Hector, who still resides under a green card, notes that like many, he and others fear the reality of a Trump Presidency. “I fled to follow Christ, and Christ stands against hatred, and now, I must follow.”
Turning to the young man with him, Gabriel, Hector motioned, “You must promise me, promise me tonight, that you will vote; it is all I ask of you. I know many of our young have not voted before, but we cannot let that happen again. We cannot let this be our nation’s story.”
As I listen back to the audio today, I still sit in stunned silence thinking about the eloquence and the passion by which Hector spoke of the desire of his community to stand up to Trump. The young woman who was with him, who helped translate, offered me these words: “None of us here can afford to lose. It isn’t an option. We just…I can’t think about what would happen to all of my families and friends, green card workers, Unionized citizens, first-generation Americans.. I just can’t think about it.”
As we broke for the meeting, Hector came over to me, grabbed hold of me in a typical bear hug and told me in English far better than you would assume: “Believe in us. Help us.”
For the growing immigrant labor force in Southwest Kansas, the idea of an election, which ends up with a Trump Presidency, and continued elections that limit access to voting rights of Hispanic & Latino immigrants is an unthinkable future. While Kansas is a state unlikely to send Democratic electors in the fall, for these unionized workers, the answer is far more direct: they have a moral obligation to vote against hatred and fear, to do less would demean them as people who cherish their love of faith so deeply.
Hector had, for the love of God and his own family, fled his home country and sacrificed his life in one profession to help steward his people and his family through manual labor and diligent work. He did it because it was the right thing to do, he said.
Now, he believes he has been called to service yet again; to work as hard as he can to be the man his community needs.
Because for Hector, there is no other option.
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